Use Planck units and restrict to the physical Kähler metric domain
Put and , so that . There are no gauged interactions specified, hence no additional D-term scalar potential. The supergravity F-term potential is , with . Its Kähler covariant derivatives of a superpotential are
The nonzero metric entries are
The determinant of this block is , so it is positive definite. With the inverse-index convention , the raised components are
Keeping these complex-conjugate off-diagonal entries in their correct index positions is essential.
To exhibit the no-scale supergravity cancellation, write the norm as
Here . The term cancels the negative term in the supergravity F-term potential. The result is the nonnegative scalar potential
This is the matter-logarithm no-scale potential, specialized to the exponential superpotential.
Choose the supergravity auxiliary field convention . Substitution into the full inverse Kähler metric gives
An overall auxiliary-field phase is conventional. The dependence of cancels between the two metric terms. If all three auxiliary fields vanished at a finite physical point, would force , would force , and would then force . Thus is necessary. For any nontrivial choice of , supersymmetry is broken at every finite physical point. The allowed exception , is supersymmetric; the statement cannot hold for all arbitrary parameters without this qualification.
The no-scale volume runaway criterion also determines whether the minimum is attained. For fixed , differentiation with respect to gives
It is negative unless both numerators vanish. Therefore a finite stationary vacuum must satisfy
Every such point is a global minimum with . For , setting and reduces existence to
The derivative of the magnitude function is . It rises from at the excluded boundary to at , then falls to zero. Consequently a finite zero-energy minimum exists exactly when
or in the separate trivial family . There is one positive root for , two for , and one double root at equality. If only one of vanishes, or exceeds this maximum, there is no finite minimum: the infimum is zero as . Calling this runaway a finite zero-energy vacuum would be incorrect.
At a nontrivial zero-energy minimum, , and the auxiliary expectation values reduce to
This explicitly verifies supersymmetry breaking with zero vacuum energy in no-scale supergravity. Both real components of are exact flat directions of a scalar potential on the minimum locus. Away from that locus, is still absent from the potential, but is not flat. At a minimum, is lifted at quartic order: at fixed , . A zero quadratic mass does not make an exact flat direction. The quartic stabilization at a double no-scale root likewise gives a vanishing quadratic mass, but no exact flat direction, for at . For , the whole family has both and flat and supersymmetry unbroken.
Finally, the gravitino mass from a superpotential is
At a nontrivial zero-energy minimum this becomes
It depends on the unfixed volume modulus, so the model does not predict one numerical mass. For , , the gravitino is massless.
Work on the physical domain
and abbreviate , , and . There are no vector multiplets specified, hence no additional gauge D-term. In Planck units the supergravity F-term potential and upper-index supergravity auxiliary fields are
The overall auxiliary-field sign is a convention; its vanishing and norm are invariant statements.
The Kähler covariant derivatives of a superpotential here are
The Kähler metric, with rows and columns their barred partners, is
Its block is positive definite because its leading diagonal and determinant are positive. In the inverse-tensor convention , the nonzero upper components are
In particular the conjugations in the off-diagonal components matter.
To verify the no-scale supergravity cancellation explicitly, temporarily write and . Their part of the metric contraction is
The terms involving and its conjugate cancel between the mixed and diagonal contributions. The remaining cancels the universal negative term. Since , the exact matter-logarithm no-scale potential is therefore
It differs from a model where appears outside the logarithm in the Kähler potential.
Substitution into the auxiliary-field formula gives
For example , which reduces to the displayed expression for the cubic superpotential. To test unbroken supersymmetry at any finite point, first forces . Then forces , whereas forces . Subtracting gives . Because , and at a finite point, all auxiliaries can vanish only if . Thus every nontrivial choice of breaks supersymmetry at finite field values.
A finite zero-energy minimum requires both nonnegative terms of to vanish:
There cannot be a finite positive-energy stationary point: keeping fixed and varying the real part of , equivalently , gives
which is strictly negative unless . Hence these zero-energy solutions are all the possible finite minima.
Because were allowed to be arbitrary, existence must be checked. If both are nonzero, put and . The magnitude equation is
The function on the right starts at one at the excluded boundary , tends to zero as , and has derivative . Its maximum is at . Therefore a finite cubic-matter no-scale vacuum with an exponential dilaton exists exactly when
There is one finite positive root for , two for , and one merged root at the maximum. The complex phase equation fixes modulo . If exactly one of vanishes, or the ratio exceeds the bound, no finite minimum exists; the potential instead has infimum zero along the runaway . A zero infimum at an infinite-field boundary is not an attained finite vacuum.
On a nontrivial finite branch, , so
This proves supersymmetry breaking at the intended no-scale vacuum. Its zero energy is consistent with the negative gravitational term: , which cancels in . It is not a counterexample to the global-supersymmetry positivity argument in question 3.
Both real components of are exactly flat on the vacuum family: never enters the potential, and at every allowed positive gives the same zero energy. Generically both components of are fixed. Although the matter field has no quadratic mass there, it is not an exact flat direction: for fixed at its root, and the leading positive potential is . At the special merged root , the real- quadratic curvature also vanishes, but higher orders lift it; this does not add a continuous flat vacuum direction. If , by contrast, is a supersymmetric zero-energy family with both complex and flat and all auxiliaries zero. This exception prevents an unconditional breaking assertion for arbitrary constants.
Finally the gravitino mass from a superpotential is
At a nontrivial finite minimum it becomes
Its value varies along the flat volume modulus; the classical potential does not select a unique supersymmetry-breaking or gravitino-mass scale. On the trivial supersymmetric branch , it is zero.